JVC KD-R80BT

cd player is a great deal for cost and offers alot of features.

so many options with this guy and easy to find them how ever i dont like the bass control for user set up. other then that i love this unit looks ok in my car sound quality is awesome, and works great with my phone i never got around to useing the app so cant really comment on it

This is an excellent car radio. Bought it for my daughter. The reason I selected it was that it had excellent connectivity to smart phone (BB), had good blue tooth, connectivity to other usb port (ipod). Morover it was important that the usb port could be coupled to a port I had made in the dashbord (so that all wires would be concealed requiring that the port of the radio was not on the front of the radio). This radio has it all and more. Excellent sound etc.

I bought this head unit for my boat. It has been exceptional. It has a higher preamp output which was very nice given that my RCA cables make long runs to get to the amplifiers. I love how it has 2 USB inputs that are powered. So I can even charge up my phone on the head unit. In addition, the AUX input adds even more variety. It has performed flawlessly, and I would buy this unit again for sure.

I installed this in my older 3 series over a month ago, but only now am I finally happy with it. Some background will help. I was coming from a 1999 era top-end Blaupunkt CD deck (Toronto RDM126). It only had CD and radio, and controlled the 10-disc in the trunk, but it had very good sound, decent ergonomics, rock-solid build quality, and it matched the dash beautifully. I just wanted to add USB playback and Bluetooth. On paper, this JVC looked great: a big full-pixel screen, adjustable color, and a classier design than many decks today.



After an extensive install (due to the removal of the old changer wiring and running the mic up to the ceiling and the USB to the console), my first day with it was a big disappointment. I found the buttons small and awkwardly placed; the sound was either tinny or muddy depending on where the EQ was set; I had to wait 45 seconds each start-up for it to catalog the USB drive (I assumed it would cache this, but it does not); but worst of all, the screen was nearly illegible in any daylight at all. Since everything is menu-driven, this meant taking my eyes way off the road to do anything. My overall impression was that this was high on technology but low on usable design.



Since then I've been trying to correct as many of these shortcomings as possible. At last, I've fixed the biggest two to my satisfaction: the sound and the screen.



Sound: For whatever reason, with my system (5.25 Polk all around and still using the factory amp), the head unit needs a Loudness setting to sound decent. My old Blaupunkt had a great adjustable Loudness control. This JVC just has a single setting, on or off, but ‘on’ would bottom-out the speakers even at modest volume. They key here was to counteract this overkill with the EQ by cutting bass substantially. It’s counter-intuitive, but by playing these two settings off each other – one boosting bass and the other cutting it – it now sounds decent.



Screen: This was a trickier problem. I first tried the obvious: contrast and brightness settings. These were not enough. I then gave up on matching the display color to the dash, since the only way to get true full brightness was to turn up each element (R,G,B) to max, which produces a blueish hue. Still not enough. I then switched the display to Positive rather than Negative, which makes the screen put out more light (since the background is lit, not the text). This helped more. Finally, the key was to apply a good anti-glare filter over the display, to allow the still-weak LCD to compete better with the ambient light. I first tried a simple cellphone matte anti-glare shield, but this helped only a little. The real key was the discovery of a reflection-cancelling film called NuShield DayVue. (The smaller cut-to-fit kit is just big enough.) This was a savior; I can now comfortably read the LCD display in normal daylight, which means I can finally operate the thing safely. You may have an easier time with the display depending on the angle your installed location makes with your line of sight to it. But for me, I nearly had to return it over this.



Still no solution for the 45 second start-up, some small buttons, or the plastic-y build quality, of course, but at least I can finally enjoy my new stereo. The phone integration works well too. I still haven’t played a CD in it yet, but it’s nice to know that is still there as a backup. The KD-X80BT is the same deck without a CD slot, if you are sure you can dispense with it. The price difference is minimal, however.



Installing a new head unit has never been this much work for me, but I think it was worth it in the end to have my entire music collection in the car. I just wish JVC had put a little more effort into the use factors of the design. Cheap shiny plastic over a dim LCD is design malpractice in a car stereo. I hope these tips help someone else.